Just as widening canals in an irrigation system increases the volume of water that can flow to nourish farmland, widening the energy flux within an organization means more creative and productive energy can be harnessed and processed within the same timeframe.

On an organizational scale, the Flashlight Blueprint offers a holistic and simple view of the five elements that influence flux on a collective level. It helps you take care of all higher-order components that contribute to your final output as an organization, assuring that each element is strong enough to support the others.

This creates a balance between your creative “organs” on a collective scale. With an organizational body like that, energy flows in a creative, financial, and material sense.

For individuals, personal flux can be widened by investing in your condition across six key shapes. When you simultaneously manage to remove energy drainers while enhancing your six shapes, your widened flux is directed towards creative and productive endeavors. This state can be called peak performance.

The width of personal energy flux is determined by one’s condition in six fundamental “shapes”:

1. Environmental Shape: Across all physical spaces where you spend time—from home, traffic, boardroom, to your favorite café—factors such as hygiene, air quality, temperature, design and personalization of space affect your health, mood and thoughts.

2. Physical Shape: Influenced by physical activity, genetics, health, sleep, nutrition, hydration, and respiration.

3. Mindset Shape: Your thoughts, beliefs, past experiences, and self-awareness form your mindset shape.

4. Emotional Shape: Emotions, feelings, and sensations greatly influence your energy flux. 

5. Learning Shape: This consists of your accumulated technical knowledge as well as your inner awareness and wisdom regarding your purpose and values.

6. Social Shape: Your relationships, affiliations, and networks, both supportive and adverse, form your social shape.

Short-term, sporadic investments in these six areas can give a quick energy boost, whereas ongoing care for all of them leads to a lasting increase in overall energy flux. The areas vary in importance depending on the individual and the context, but each plays an essential role in life.

Sarah and Michael represent two ends of the spectrum in executive energy management.

Sarah’s holistic approach to managing both her own and her team's energy leads to a thriving, creative, and supportive work environment.

In contrast, Michael's neglect of these aspects results in a strained atmosphere that stifulls growth and drains energy.

Environmental Shape: Sarah starts her day in a well-ventilated, brightly lit office filled with plant life. She believes in personalizing workspaces for her and her team, understanding that a comfortable environment boosts creativity and productivity. The temperature is kept at an optimal balance of comfort and alertness, and there's a dedicated quiet zone for deep work.

Physical Shape: She follows a morning routine of yoga, cross-fit, or a short run, having experienced first-hand the connection between physical well-being and mental clarity. Sarah prioritizes her sleep, sticking to a consistent schedule even during her busiest periods. Her diet is almost athlete-like, focused on superfoods in nutrition and hydration, incorporating plenty of water and brain-food like nuts and berries into her day.

Mindset Shape: Sarah maintains an open mind. She continuously pays attention to her thoughts and chooses to change unhelpful ways of thinking, beliefs, or judgements, whenever they obstruct her view of truth or her path of progress. When Sarah works, she eliminates distractions to let the flow of ideas and information flow through her prepared mind.

Emotional Shape: Recognizing the impact her emotions, feelings, and sensations have on her energy flux, Sarah takes extreme care of her emotional signals and reactions. She understands that emotions and feelings often emerge faster than reason in her team, so she always reads the room and influences everyone’s emotional shape with positive waves of her own. Learning from her painful or traumatic experiences helps her manage stress and remain or return to a state of joy and inner security whenever working. She encourages her team to express their feelings without shame, creating an open environment where emotions are acknowledged and managed healthily.

Learning Shape: Her knowledge has been the leverage helping her win with confidence in the past, so Sarah never stops expanding the skills, experience, tools and technologies at her disposal. When she feels out of touch with any subject matter, Sarah catches up with in-house experts to explain any innovations to her. Sometimes, subtle doubts arise whether she’s playing the right game at all. In those moments, Sarah firms her connection with something bigger and meaningful through her values and purpose. This brings her goosebumps and puts her in a humble but certain stance from where she can clearly see what to do, or even reach some breakthroughs.

Social Shape: Sarah sees relationships as enablers of everything else. Within her family, friends and professional networks, relationships are channels through which support, advice, trust, and value are exchanged. She discerns between relationships and groups that drain her energy with any form of toxicity, and those that lift her up with genuine care. She prevents and resolves conflicts by making sure her attitude towards others is “in the heart”.

Environmental Shape: Michael's office is cluttered, with little attention paid to the quality of air or natural light. The workspace is purely functional, lacking personal touches that might inspire or uplift the team's spirit. The overall ambiance is more stifling than stimulating.

Physical Shape: Michael skips breakfast, relying on coffee to jumpstart his day, often having fast food for convenience. Sleep is erratic, with late nights common, impacting his overall energy levels. Exercise is sporadic, not seen as a priority.

Mindset Shape: Stuck in a fixed mindset, Michael views setbacks as personal failures rather than learning opportunities. He seldom reflects on how his approaches could evolve or aligns his actions with deeper values, leading to a disconnect between his work and personal fulfillment.

Emotional Shape: Under constant stress, Michael has little outlet for his emotions, viewing them as a weakness. This leads to a tense work environment where team members feel unable to express their concerns freely.

Learning Shape: New ways of working and methods are often seen as a challenge rather than an opportunity. Michael sticks to the "we've always done it this way" mentality, disregarding potential benefits from adopting new approaches.

Social Shape: Relationships within the network are transactional, with little effort made to foster genuine connections. The organizational culture feels competitive rather than collaborative, with individuals often feeling isolated and unsupported.